R/GA

And now, here’s a little lunchtime filler for you tech geeks who want to wax nostalgic for a few minutes. As you’ll see above, a bunch of folks from R/GA decided to take a look back on the technologies that either played an instrumental part in their upbringing or were just hard to ignore at the time. Whether it be the original Nintendo, a Commodore, floppy disks, a 14.4 modem, beepers or chatting on ICQ, pretty much all the bases from yesterday are covered in this purposely antiquated-looking video called, yes, “Retro Tech.” It sure has an I Love the 80′s feel to it, don’t it? Now, who wants to take us on in Duck Hunt?

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OK, folks, the saga is over and R/GA has finally rolled out a full-fledged announce confirming that former Big Fuel executive creative director Chris Bradley has joined the agency for the digital age as ECD on the MasterCard account. Along with providing a better photo of the man (which shows he might bear a slight resemblance to Gary Oldman), we might as well also shed some light on his days at Big Fuel. During his brief stay at the social media agency, Bradley worked on initiatives across BF’s past and present clients including GM, T-Mobile, Microsoft, Philips and Chevy (he oversaw the “Chevy Camaro 2 Million” Facebook campaign, for example).

Prior to Big Fuel, as we previously mentioned, Bradley spent time as a senior creative at agencies including Ogilvy’s New York and San Francisco offices, serving as senior partner/GCD on Motorola and Stoli among other accounts at the latter branch. From what sources familiar with the matter tell us, Bradley will assume his post at R/GA on Jan. 24.

H/T to the tipsters, as always.

Since our post last Friday about now-former Big Fuel ECD Chris Bradley, who left the agency after just 11 months, a handful of spies have emerged from the shadows to tell us that he’s heading to R/GA. The “agency for the digital age” has yet to confirm Bradley’s arrival, though we’re hearing that he’ll assume a similar title at its New York HQ. While we continue prodding and poking R/GA for some clarification on the matter, we’ll remind you that Bradley also held lengthy, high-level creative posts at the likes of Arnold and Ogilvy during his career.

After spending the last year as integrated creative director on Land Rover at Y&R New York, Steve Whittier has headed to R/GA to serve as an ECD on Nike. While he was based in Y&R’s New York office during his yearlong stint, Whittier worked with the London branch as well on global Land Rover launched as well as with other clients such as GE and Airwalk.

Prior to Y&R, Whittier spent over 11 years at Factory Design Labs out of Denver, where he last served as VP/creative director and worked on accounts ranging from Audi to The North Face. During his career, R/GA’s new ECD hire spent time as an art director at the likes of Lowe and McCann and had a spell as a creative director at Leo Burnett’s office in the Ukraine during the ’90s.

In the wake of the ChapStick social media debacle that surrounded the brand’s now-defunct Facebook campaign from a few weeks ago, our tips box has been regularly lit up with allegations that the relationship between ChapStick parent company Pfizer and digital agency R/GA has suffered.

This week’s round of tips go so far as to say that even though R/GA was ready to roll out a “ridic” Facebook app for ChapStick, which has been a client for a few years now, the agency has cut or is in the process of cutting ties with Pfizer because, among other things, of how poorly the corporate giant handled the ChapStick Facebook issue.The last tip sent this morning regarding the matter put it bluntly, “holy sh R/GA just fired Pfizer!”

Since R/GA is not allowed to comment on ChapStick regardless of how good, bad or ugly the situation is, we contacted Pfizer directly and despite all the tips saying otherwise, a spokesperson told us that as of now, the company is currently working with R/GA. Wait, what? Either this person is the last to know, or a syndicate of tipsters is just toying with us and this is all just wishful thinking on their parts. For now, our status is confused, but we’ll hopefully see how this plays out for better or worse in the coming days/weeks.

A month after parting ways with Publicis Modem (like many others before him), Tony Effik has found a new gig as managing director of R/GA’s media & connections department. What does that mean, exactly? Well, Effik will obviously be involved in helping grow the agency for the digital age’s media capabilities and he will also work with R/GA’s digital, strategy and creative teams to integrate paid, owned and earned media for clients.

During his time at Publicis Modem, Effik worked on both sides of the pond, first as chief strategy officer in London for nearly four years then as SVP, strategy & analytics in New York for just over a year. During his career, he’s also had planning gigs at both JWT and M&C Saatchi’s London offices.

 

Well, it looks like Mark Ferdman is back in the conversation. The co-founder of now-defunct Freedom + Partners as well as mobile app Pushkart is headed to R/GA to take on the title of, well, group account director on L’Oreal. Early on in his career, Ferdman of course helped found Firstborn with cousin Michael (now FB’s CEO) in 1997 before opening up Freedom in 2002 (some of you may have been aware that there has been some drama between the two over the years).  Anyhow, the latter shop perhaps most notably developed the Pearl Jam Ten game, sites for soaps as well as a digital platform for USA Network’s The Starter Wife (is that still on the air?).

In his new role at R/GA, Ferdman will be reporting to Dawn Winchester, EVP, chief marketing services officer.

 

Tommy Lee Jones apologizes if he caught you at a bad time, but he just saw you strolling down this dirt road and was wondering if you’d be able to talk, man to man, over a white picket fence. Now, listen to Tommy Lee Jones’ favorite American tale about financial services company Ameriprise.

So, why is the star of cheerleader comedy Man of the House Ameriprise’s new spokesman? According to the Ameriprise announce, these new spots from R/GA “speak directly to American’s current concerns about their financial future — highlighting Ameriprise’s 117 years of history, not taking any bail-out money during the financial crisis and a commitment to work one-on-one to help people secure their future. Tommy Lee Jones supports these messages by bringing an added dimension of authenticity, while also representing the Boomer generation hit so hard by the most recent recession.” Who knew that one of the stars of the forthcoming film Men in Black 3-D felt the recession just as much everyone else?

The campaign features a variety of videos on Ameriprise’s YouTube page where Tommy Lee Jones is joined by some of the company’s employees, who explain how they can help potential clients invest in the future. Tommy Lee Jones thanks you for your time, and would like to invite you inside his humble cottage where he has a pitcher of lemonade and fresh baked cookies that “aren’t going to eat themselves, haha.”

Consider Lance and Brian well-loved at the “agency for the digital age.” We believe they might be copy interns but in any case, the pair made enough of an impact at R/GA to merit this farewell dance number. Our Shazam is on the fritz at the moment, but if you want to name this house-y reggaeton track, more power to you. Go on, you tiny dancer–wait, is that Nicole Richie?

The “agency for the digital age” has added two group planning directors to the fold, namely Dick De Lange and John Keehler, who join as GPD’s for Nike and Walmart, respectively. The new hires have each accumulated approximately 15 years of industry experience, with De Lange (pictured) spending time most recently at JWT New York and maintaining planning roles at various DDB and Saatchi & Saatchi offices prior. During his career, De Lange has helped win new business for the likes of VW, Minolta, Cadbury, Budweiser, Lexus and Gatorade.

As for Keehler, the planning vet spent most recently served as principal at Richards Group and helped build and lead the Dallas-based agency’s Digital Strategy and UX departments. In addition, R/GA’s new Walmart group planning director moonlights as a faculty member and guest lecturer at Boulder Digital Works.

With the addition of De Lange and Keehler, R/GA planner head count stands at 35.